Ian Rickuss wins Lockyer, Hanson defeated by 184 votes

PAULINE Hanson has narrowly lost the seat of Lockyer, failing in her bid to return to politics.

As the number of declared seats crept closer to the final magical number of 89 late yesterday, the Electoral Commission of Queensland revealed just how tight the contest was in Lockyer.

One Nation Party's Ms Hanson lost to LNP's Ian Rickuss by 184 votes.

ECQ principal elections officer Carrick Brough said it was a close seat because there was not a big difference in votes between the top three candidates.

"First, second and third are going to finish quite closely," Mr Brough said late yesterday.

"It is going to come down to who came third and where the preferences flow on from there."

The counting continued late yesterday and while Mr Brough initially hoped to finalise all seats by last night, he said it was likely at least one seat would need to be finalised today.

At the time of going to press yesterday, the fight between Labor and the LNP came down to the wire. At about 5.30pm, 82 seats had been declared, 40 going to Labor and 39 to the LNP. Along with the seat of Lockyer, two other closely fought electorates that were in doubt for most of the count were finally declared yesterday.

In the Brisbane seat of Mt Ommaney only 170 votes separated Labor's Jessica Pugh and LNP's Tarnya Smith. The LNP won the seat.

The northern seat of Whitsunday went to returning LNP MP Jason Costigan.

The final fight between Mr Costigan and Labor's Bronwyn Taha came down to about 300 votes.

Mr Brough said during the distribution preferences, counting staff eliminated the candidate with the fewest votes and distributed their preferences to the remaining candidates.

Then he said they moved onto the second last candidate and continued until there was a clear winner.

It was still predicted late yesterday that Labor would secure 44 seats.

With the support of independent Peter Wellington, the party would have the 45 seats needed.

It is up to the Governor of Queensland to commission a new Premier.

EARLIER:

TWELVE days after the election and the seat of Lockyer has been declared, after a marathon recount.

As expected the LNP's Ian Rickuss has retained the seat, holding off One Nation leader Pauline Hanson by 184 votes in a full recount.